Jun 26
Bermuda bowed out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with their heads held high this week. They arrived for the first time in a big tournament jointly ranked as outsiders, with Guyana.
Yet, they left with praise ringing in their ears from many commentators and ex-footballers including Warren Barton who waxed lyrical over the island’s efforts on Fox Sports.
Bermuda lost their opening game at the CONCACAF Gold Cup last night 2-1 to Haiti. Bermuda took the lead right on half time when captain Dante Leverock powered home a header from a corner.
It was a dream score at the break and until then the half had been pretty even with Bermuda trying to keep the ball and having much the better of the chances. Haiti came out stronger in the 2nd half and in the end their fitness and strength prevailed.
Just when at work we were bemoaning the lack of summer football action, the Gold Cup arrived like the first summer wasp.
Bermuda qualified for their first ever major tournament recently by finishing in 5th place in this continent’s Nations League qualifying. The 5th place finish also secured Nations League action against the power house Mexicans and Panama later in the year.
I hadn’t gotten around to posting my final 2013 Top 5’s, so I am going to bombard you with the final ones in the next few minutes starting with the best places I got to see last year.
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Nicaragua has had to endure a very sad history, and the smiles on the faces of every Nicaraguan we had the pleasure to meet suggested that there is a much brighter future ahead for this beautiful land.
Many of the locals we met had returned to the country because they wanted to help rebuild it after decades of adversity. You name it, and the Nica’s have seen it. Wars, military dictatorships, meddling Americans, natural disasters, contras and bent governments.
Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere yet it’s people talked in absolutely perfect English affectionately and emotionally about their country with real enthusiasm of a better future. It was a very sobering experience.
Despite all of the tales of destruction and strife what no one could ever destroy was Nicaragua’s natural beauty. Part of a biologocal corridor that for a million years has allowed plant and animal species from two continents to mingle, and thus it boasts extraordinary geographical beauty and wildlife.
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We flew to Panama City this afternoon, around about a 70-minute flight from Managua for the next part of our holiday.
After the remoteness and quiet that one feels in Nicaragua, the 2nd poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, we now find ourselves in Panama City, the most cosmopolitan city in Central America, which isn’t a real surprise given it’s rich diversity given to it by the famed, almost century old Canal plus it’s reputation as an international banking centre.
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Tomorrow we head off for our summer holiday. We will spend tomorrow night in Coral Gables, a spit away from Miami Airport, and then Friday fly to Managua in Nicaragua.
Last year we holidayed this same time of year in Costa Rica – the howler monkey that flies across the top of this blog will tell you how much we adored it. My other half has little or no flexibility on her work holiday allocation, unlike me, which may not come as a total surprise to you, so our desire to see a lot of Latin America is hindered by these two weeks being the optimum time to getaway. Hindered because the further south in the Americas one goes it is winter and many countries in Central America are as hot as hades this time of year.
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Chicago Addick 